WASHINGTON – White House officials specified details of President Trump’s recent promise to provide more arms to Ukraine, stating that the delivery of weaponry would be in the form of Tommy guns.

Trump authorized the dispatch, saying that factories in various Rust Belt cities would begin churning out thousands of modern equivalents of the famous Gangster-era machine gun. “This is yet another way that the United States of America is helping the cause of freedom,” a White House spokesperson said. “Now this weapon has come full circle.” 

The Thompson machine gun, popularly known as the “Tommy gun,” was developed for U.S. Army troops during World War I and later filled the hands of American soldiers in several subsequent conflicts, notably World War II. It was, however, most well known for being used by many enemies of Prohibition, and in later years was sold to those fighting other wars in other places (including both sides in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War). 

Those early models would not pass muster these days, with tougher gun laws in place. Today’s Tommy guns are semi-automatic in nature. The White House said that the name wouldn’t need to be changed, however, batting down a social media rumor that the new weapons would be called “Tom Toms.” 

“Tommy works in every language,” the spokesperson said. “Russian forces will certainly recognize such an iconic piece of tech.”